It has already been decried as unnecessary, unsafe, unsuited to disabled people and, above all, too contemporary. But the final insult was yesterday heaped on the bridge Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has built over the Grand Canal in Venice when its official opening was cancelled.

The "passageway of light", as its creator once called it, was to have been inaugurated on September 18 at a ceremony attended by Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano. But the Venice councillor responsible for public works, Mara Rumiz, told Corriere della Sera newspaper that central government approval had yet to be granted for modifications that would allow the bridge to be used by people with disabilities.

"It was unthinkable to keep the bridge shut until then, given the pedestrian part is ready," she added.

At a meeting on Monday, Rumiz and the mayor, Massimo Cacciari, agreed that the 94-metre long steel and glass structure would simply be made available at some point with neither pomp nor pageant.

Their decision will avert a demonstration planned by opponents of the project, and remove the opportunity for another round of media comment on the cost overruns and repeated delays that have marked the bridge's construction.

It is four years behind schedule and, according to Raffaele Speranzon, a critic and rightwing councillor, 300% over budget. The plans were said to have been revised first to take account of the pressure on the banks of the waterway and then to adapt the bridge for use by disabled people. Last year, Calatrava's studio issued a press release saying the hold-ups and resulting cost increases were "entirely the responsibility of Venice council".

The bridge's aesthetic value has come under sustained attack from traditionalists. Arrigo Cipriani, the owner of Venice landmark Harry's Bar, welcomed news of the ceremony's cancellation, saying it would have given "too much importance to this architect, who has already done a lot of damage".